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Danica Patrick watches qualifying at Daytona International Speedway after posting a team that no one would beat. Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

At some point in time the significance of what Danica Patrick did Sunday will come into focus. For now, it's hard to even comprehend that she's won the pole for next weekend's Daytona 500. She did that, you should know, in only her 11th Sprint Cup start, her second at Daytona International Speedway. She's the first female pole-winner in NASCAR's 66-year history, a span that includes 2,355 Strictly Stock, Grand National, Winston Cup, Nextel Cup and Sprint Cup races.

Few are more qualified to speak of her accomplishment than Tony Stewart. He's a three-time Cup champion and owner of the Chevrolets that qualified first (Patrick), fourth (Ryan Newman) and fifth (Stewart himself) for the 500. “You guys know the significance,” he told the media, “but [consider] just the history books. It's never been done and there's only one person who can be the first to do anything. The first one that does something always has that little bit more significance.

“And it's not like it's been 15 or 20 years she's been trying to do this. It's her second trip to Daytona here in a Cup car and she's made history. That's stuff we're proud of, something she should have a huge amount of pride in. It's something as an owner we're proud to be part of. We're proud for her because it's a huge accomplishment.”

Patrick's pole -- never mind that it's for NASCAR's biggest race -- is her latest record-setting moment. She was the first woman to lead the Indy 500, the highest-finishing woman in Indy 500 history, the only woman to win an IndyCar race, the only woman to win a Nationwide Series pole, the highest-finishing woman in any major NASCAR race and now the first woman to win a Sprint Cup pole.

“I've been very fortunate throughout my career,” she said. “This is good for the team and [sponsor] GoDaddy and NASCAR and me. It seems that the more that's on the line, I seem to do my best. I feel I grew up with good values and good goals. I was brought up to be the fastest driver, not the fastest girl. That was instilled in me from very young, from the beginning. Then I feel like thriving in those moments where the pressure's on has also been a help for me.

“I also feel I've been lucky in my career to be with good teams and have good people around me. I don't think any of it would have been possible without that. For those reasons, I've been lucky enough to make history, be the first woman to do many things. I really just hope I don't stop doing that. We have a lot more history to make. We are excited to do it.”

The latest historic suspense began building 23 minutes into the qualifying session, when Patrick posted the day's fastest speed. About 105 minutes and 37 drivers later, she was still on the pole. It wasn't a total surprise, though, since she had been fast in January testing and was third-fastest and fastest in Saturday's practice sessions. In fact, most in the garage fully expected her to do exactly what she did.

“They've got good stuff over there and Tony [crew chief Tony Gibson] is really good at what he does,” Ford team-owner Eddie Wood said. “She's going to run better than people think this year, not just here, but everywhere. She's not gonna be top-five or top-10 all that often, but she's gonna be good; a solid top-15 driver. She might even give [fellow rookie and very public boyfriend] Ricky Stenhouse a run for his money.”

Patrick delighted in giving Gibson and Stewart credit for her pole. “I'm supposed to be excited and relieved today, and I feel like a broken record,” she said. “I probably will feel even more so by the end of the day after all my interviews. I appreciate the recognition, but it really falls, as I think I said before I went out on the track, 90 percent on Tony and his guys, on everybody that gives me the car to be fast. It's maybe 10 percent on me.

“All I had to do was think about going out there, being smooth, not letting the car bind up, running on that yellow line. Outside of that, I think it shows how well prepared Tony and everybody was, how strong the Hendrick engines are, how good the new Chevy is. We've been fast since practice in January. Last year, I was pretty decent in practice and came for the race, and it wasn't the same situation. This year, it continued. I think that shows how well prepared they've all been, how hard they've worked over the winter.”

Patrick's lap of 196.484 mph beat the 196.292 of Jeff Gordon. They're the only drivers assured of starting next weekend's 500-miler where they qualified on Sunday. Starters 3-32 will come from Thursday's two 150-mile heats, starters 33-36 will be the four fastest from qualifying who finish poorly on Thursday, starters 37-42 will be the six highest-ranked teams in 2012 points not otherwise qualified and starter 43 will be the most recent champion not otherwise qualified. If not needed, seven teams advance via owner points.

More often than not, though, qualifying has nothing to do with the race itself. Only twice in the past 25 years has the pole-winner won the 500: Jeff Gordon in 1999 and Dale Jarrett in 2000. On average, the last 12 winners have started from 17th. Among them: winners who started 39th, 31st, 27th and 24th, and five others who started 11th to 15th. Carl Edwards, the 2012 pole-winner, led only the first nine laps and finished eighth.

All told, only six pole-winners have won the 500: the late Fireball Roberts in 1962, Richard Petty in 1966, Cale Yarborough in 1968 and 1984, Bill Elliott in 1985 and 1987, Gordon in 1999 and Jarrett in 2000. Of that group, only Gordon is in this year's 500.